Two men were formally arraigned for murder this morning at the Punta Gorda Magistrate’s Court. Although the charges were just laid, the murders go back some time. Twenty-one year old Kenner Gomez will face justice for the murder of twenty-six year old Janice Floris Vargas, which occurred on Mother’s Day, exactly five months ago. Additionally, […]
The news that a Guatemalan company with Guatemalan employees was building a Coast Guard facility on Hunting Caye broke last week Thursday. One week later, the Government says it still has no clue about the status of the workers at that facility. Minister of Immigration and Labour Godwin Hulse today told News Five that he […]
While the Minister of Labour, Hulse, is saying that he still does not know about permits, the Minister of National Security, John Saldivar, says all required permits were approved. Saldivar also said that there is not yet a stop order to halt construction, and he confirmed what we reported on Tuesday night that the Government […]
The Penner immigration corruption scandal which dominated the public landscape for a year has now fizzled. But with Immigration such a ripe tree full of fruit to plunder, there will always be corruption. In fact, reports reaching our newsroom indicate that at least one senior Immigration Officer is currently under investigation for facilitating the extension […]
Since last Friday, News Five emailed the US Embassy with a series of questions in respect of the contract issued to BINARQ. Late this evening, we got a response. While the embassy did not directly respond to our queries, they did say the following. First, in consideration of the strong U.S./Belize partnership, the US Southern […]
Three weeks ago an injunction against controversial artist Alkaline put him under manners, bound to keep his lyrical peace and tone down the sex. And now another artist is being threatened with similar action, by UNIBAM. Anthony Davis, better known as Beenie Man, is set to perform on October eighteenth alongside Black Chiney Sounds. A […]
Dancehall performing artist Beenie Man can be considered a mainstay in Belize, having been invited to perform in the country since the mid-nineties. So what is the contention all about? This afternoon, News Five sat with promoter Bobby Chin who told us that he was appalled by the email sent to him by UNIBAM. The […]
But according to UNIBAM’s Attorney, Lisa Shoman, there is precedent for the action being taken against Beenie Man, whose real name is Anthony Davis, and she’s right. Beenie Man and several other reggae artists were actually banned from the UK in early 2000 due to the content of the music and were unable to participate […]
The Ministry of National Security has been forced into discussions with the US Embassy following revelations that a US-funded Coast Guard forward operating base on Hunting Caye is being built by BINARQ, a Guatemalan company employing Guatemalan workers. The news broke last week and public fire and brimstone have rained down on the government. At […]
If it is not feasible to halt the construction of the forward operating base on Hunting Caye, the Ministry has committed to ensuring that it does not happen in the future. But has it happened more than once in the past? Today, News Five was reliably informed that the very same Guatemalan company, BINARQ, not […]
The deadly Ebola virus that has been traced all the way to Guinea in Africa, has made its way to as close as Dallas, Texas, where a man remains hospitalized in critical condition. There are no suspected cases, but officials at the Ministry of Health are keeping watch and preparing the K.H.M.H. for the possibility […]
An outbreak of chikungunya fever across Latin America and the Caribbean was similarly reported in late-June. While the spread of the vector-borne infection has been closely monitored in Belize, there are no cases to report on tonight. Despite the good news, as in the case of Ebola, the Public Health Department is still actively keeping […]
Do you believe the PM when he says he did not know that a Guatemalan company and nationals are constructing a base for the Belize Coast Guard at Hunting Caye? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an […]
The concert by the controversial dancehall artist, Alkaline, was high in the September calendar of activities. But on the eve of the concert, the Roman Catholic Bishop went to court seeking an injunction to stop the concert from being held at the Sacred Heart Gymnasium because the church considered the artist’s performances as satanic and […]
There is a truly disturbing story to report tonight in which a Muslim woman claims she was denied access to court because of her religion. The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, is a victim of domestic abuse. She sought the intervention of the court for a restraining order against her husband, and was given […]
Three murders in three days…on Thursday, twenty-seven year old food vendor Gerald Palmer was shot and killed on Grants Alley by a lone gunman who opened fire on him during a nationwide blackout. Grant’s murder was followed by the slaying of Harrison Smith on Friday and the fatal shooting of Lincoln Sabido, about twenty-six hours […]
The weekend’s second murder took place on Saturday night. Another man, well-known to the law, who also twice beat the murder rap lost his life in a hail of bullets. Lincoln “Corn” Sabido died minutes after he was shot multiple times by a lone gunman who snuck up on him from behind the house he […]
As we said earlier in the newscast, twenty-seven-year-old Gerald Palmer, a food vendor of Belize City, was shot and killed on Thursday night during a nationwide power outage. He was waylaid by a lone assailant who fired as many as six shots in his direction before standing over his bullet riddled body to complete the […]
There was more violence over the weekend. A vicious chopping incident in Teakettle Village on Saturday evening has left one man short of a left hand. Twenty-four-year-old Aldo Moro was at J&J’s Store when he was accosted by someone he knew. According to Moro, he was returning to his vehicle when Shaylon Santos, also known […]
Later that night, twenty-one-year-old Edel Diaz, a resident of Salvapan, lost his left index finger when he was also attacked by a machete-wielding assailant. Diaz, who works as a warehouse assistant, was socializing with a few friends at a bar on Cemetery Road in Salvapan when Clifford Alvarado confronted him. A forceful swing of […]
On Friday, the nation was shocked and outraged at the news that a gang of armed Guatemalan civilians came across the border and confronted BDF personnel. The incident happened at Valentin Camp about one kilometre from the border, where a new outpost is being constructed. According to the Ministry of National Security, villagers from the […]
The Coast Guard’s Forward Operating Base, located on Hunting Caye, remains a point of much contention. Last week, the news broke that the base, funded by the US, is being built by a Guatemalan firm that contracted Guatemalan workers. Now that news would have raised eyebrows in the most tranquil of times. But these aren’t […]
Tonight, there is real and present danger of bloodshed in the forests along the Belize/Guatemala border, and a chilling sense of escalating violence. This morning at around nine-thirty, there was an encounter between B.D.F. soldiers and approximately twenty-five Guatemalan civilians. The soldiers were guarding civilian workmen who are building a new outpost at Camp Valentin, […]
The newly constructed outpost at Camp Valentin is less than a kilometre from the Guatemalan border. Reinforcements were called in from Camp Belizario, located at least four hours from the remote outpost. The threat to the B.D.F. soldiers, and to the workmen under their watch, was very real. But is the government taking the threat […]
The question of the adequacy of the government response to threat is a pertinent and valid one. After all, Danny Conorquie was murdered fully eight months after the head of the Tourism Police Unit, Diana Hall, issued a dire warning to her superiors via memo, and begged for assistance. Her requests for additional training, manpower […]
